The Tufts Daily EDITORIAL
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THE TUFTS DAILY Martha E. Shanahan Editor-in-Chief
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Thursday, February 21, 2013
Tufts Sustainability House somewhat redundant The decision to create a Sustainability House on campus will offer limited returns in aiding environmental causes on campus. The Office of Residential Life and Learning is launching the new Special Interest House for those students who are interested in environmental issues and seek to live with others of a similar mindset. Students can apply to the house through an application process seeking amiable people with a drive to fix environmental problems and work on other projects. The Sustainability House will be located in a 10-person Latin Way suite, and students living there will discuss ways to expand campus-wide attention to environmental issues. All of these points and additions are positive, but the Sustainability House is unlikely to breathe life back into programs such as EcoReps for dorms that can change the way students live. Without question, environmental awareness is an issue that holds huge importance in our world today, especially for young students whose futures will include a warming world. Still, the onslaught of environmental programs at Tufts can seem redundant.
People care about recycling and environmental development, but with Tufts Sustainability Collective, Divestment and so many other groups, having one more collection of environmentally-minded students seems to point towards a factor of diminishing returns. There are bright spots to the idea, as the environmentally conscious can work on projects and focus energy on making said projects while living together. Still, that happens through clubs, as when some students joined a large protest of the Keystone XL pipeline recently, a prime example of the type of activism that we are proud to have at Tufts. The strength of our many, many groups does not contribute to a truly powerful case for a Sustainability House at this point in time Instead, for instance, a house for something like the Arabic language program — the only program without such a place for students — would be a more effective addition to the Special Interest Housing Program. The creation of an Arabic language house would offer more. Language houses provide the type of immersion that improves the effectiveness of teaching languages. Most other
languages taught at Tufts have their own language house that allows for that kind of experience, and an Arabic houses would be hugely beneficial for the many students who take Arabic classes, additionally bolstering the IR program, which has many Arabic students. The language and culture houses on whole aid with deeper understanding of regions of the world that are and will remain vital for many years to come. They also act as educational centers for a range of issues ranging from security to environmental problems. An Arabic house would make a measurable improvement in the lives of students — much as the Sustainability House will, but perhaps to greater effect than the addition of what could become a redundant institution. The Sustainability House is a positive to have on campus. Environmental issues are hugely important to our world today and have been given a lot of attention by students — and rightly so. Still, there are many groups that do much of the same activities that the house will partake in, whereas something like an Arabic house would be unique entity that serves a purpose that no other house or club could.
Denise Amisial
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